More Migrant Remains Discovered in Texas 80 Miles from Mexican Border

File Photo: Bob Price/Breitbart Texas12 May 2018

The death toll of illegal immigrants abandoned by human smugglers in South Texas continues to rise with the this week’s discovery of two sets of human remains. Border Patrol agents and sheriff’s deputies recovered the remains of the deceased migrants in two counties approximately 80 miles from the Texas border with Mexico.

On May 10, a rancher in Brooks County discovered the remains of a deceased migrant on a ranch near Falfurrias, Texas, according to information provided to Breitbart Texas by U.S. Border Patrol officials in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. The rancher contacted Falfurrias Station Border Patrol agents and the Brooks County Sheriff’s office. Sheriff’s deputies and a Brooks County Justice of the Peace responded to make the declaration of death and recover the remains.

Falfurrias is located on U.S. Highway 281 about 80 miles north of the Mexican border.

The remains of at least 20 migrants have been found in Brooks County this year, Sheriff Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas in a phone interview this week. “These deaths occur when the human smugglers abandon the people they are trying to sneak around the Border Patrol checkpoint located in the middle of our county,” Martinez stated. “These smugglers have no concern for the health and safety of their ‘human cargo.’ When one of the illegal immigrants gets injured, dehydrated, or is otherwise too weak to keep up with the group, the smugglers simply leave them behind to die.”

On May 7, Kingsville Station Border Patrol agents discovered the skeletal remains of a deceased migrant on a ranch near Armstrong, Texas. This community is located on U.S. Highway 77, about 80 miles north of the Mexican border. It is several miles south of the Sarita Border Patrol Checkpoint.

Agents turned the remains over to the Kenedy County Sheriff’s Office.

Frequently the deceased migrants have no identification on or near their bodies. This makes the process of identifying the remains and notifying the family of the deceased much more difficult.

“As the heat rises in the months leading into summer, we become even more concerned about catching these callous human smugglers before they can lead the illegal immigrants into danger,” Sheriff Martinez explained. “We frequently find women and children being forced to march through the harsh and dangerous conditions on these ranches. Often times, the smugglers do not provide the people with enough water or food to make the extremely strenuous march around the checkpoint.”

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, GAB, and Facebook.